In a new status update for InXile Entertainment's upcoming Wasteland 2 RPG, the company revealed it will be re-releasing the original Wasteland before the sequel, with Kickstarter backers receiving the game for free. InXile also offered details about an upcoming playable preview of the game, and a collection of new screenshots. A sequel to the classic post-apocalyptic RPG of the 80's, Wasteland 2 will be a top down, turn-based, tactical RPG that the developers promise will "stay true to its roots."

As you may know, we had a deal in place with EA to give all our Wasteland 2 backers (including late backers) a copy of Wasteland 1, which was to be integrated and launched from the game’s menu like the original Bard’s Tale trilogy into the new Bard’s Tale. We very happy about that, as we’ve always wanted to enable people to get back to the original, and it serves as a good refresher for the sequel.

We recently went to talk with EA to try and get it out in a different, separate format, and they accommodated our idea. We’ve now inked a new deal where we’ll be able to release Wasteland 1 separately. After getting the game in our hands and ensuring it runs on modern machines, we plan to distribute it FOR FREE to all our backers before Wasteland 2’s release, as well as sell it on GOG.com and Steam for anyone else interested in trying out this classic RPG.

S2 Games, developer of the free-to-play Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) Heroes of Newerth, recently revealed a new title, Strife. Taking a new approach to the MOBA formula S2 will build Strife around the idea of a collective, contributing community. The game will encourage player cooperation and will feature a layered backstory.

The only studio with two MOBAs currently in development, S2 has focused their long-standing industry expertise, passion and talent toward building a collaborative, engaging experience that truly stands apart from those offered by competing MOBAs. Strife ’s approach is simple: rich, community-driven gameplay paired with mechanics that make teamwork easy, rewarding and satisfying for all.

“S2 Games has been in the MOBA market from its inception,” said Marc DeForest, CEO of S2 Games. “Since then, we’ve learned a great deal about this maturing genre through a wide range of analytical studies and experience. For Strife, we want to take MOBAs to the next level, utilizing our resources to blend the processes of game development and player engagement to create a more enjoyable experience that grows the community and evolves the idea of what MOBAs can be.”

Unlike other MOBAs, Strife is built entirely around the idea of a collective, contributing community. Predicated on creating a more connected multiplayer experience that incentivizes cooperation, Strife streamlines communication between players with innovative, in-client social systems and rewards players for team collaboration, not simply placing highest on a leaderboard. It also employs design elements that instruct and inform, providing immediate feedback for genre newcomers and veterans alike.

Strife aims to make strides in MOBA storytelling, delivering an engrossing world with a layered backstory to further connect players with the heroes they choose. It all begins when the invasion of the Dharkwave, harbingers of darkness foretold by prophecy, is imminent, promising catastrophe upon the world. Its only hope is an Army of Light, forged in the crucible of battle to hold the line against their impending arrival. Players must overcome “The Trials of Strife,” as well as one another, to prove themselves as champions worthy to face the Dharkwave.

Instilling in players personal attachments to their heroes as much informs S2’s approach to art and character design as it does lore, producing units that are not only fun and intuitive to control, but that each feature their own definitive style. Everything from the pets they fight with to the crafted weapons and items they bring to battle is informed by the look, feel and personality of each hero. These customizable character choices encourage players to experiment, adapting tactics appropriate to personal play style.

Camel 101 has announced a new Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation of Black Talons, a new real time tactics game set in a sci-fi universe. The game will feature a mercenary commander trying to prevail in a ravaged star system. From their customizable battlecruiser players will take command of an army made up of ground soldiers and mechs, fighting on a variety of worlds with unique environment and weather conditions.

A new vision on Real Time Tactics is starting with the Black Talons Kickstarter campaign. Black Talons is a strategy game set in a sci-fi universe, featuring a mercenary commander trying to prevail in a ravaged star system. Black Talons allows the player to manage a whole army with ground soldiers, mechs and a battlecruiser as the base of operations. You will have to fight either in a war of conquest and survival through the galaxy, and also be very careful to protect your reputation. Local factions may join your side recruiting new forces on your army and trading benefits, or become hostile which means... well, serious trouble. Lead your troops, fight your enemies, forge alliances. Watch your back. Survive.

Features:

Advanced Diplomacy System. Your reputation will affect your relations with the factions you encounter, allowing you to trade with you or forcing you to fight them.

Deep campaign mode where player interactions determine the balance of power on the system, leading to completely different gaming experiences.

Customizable Battlecruiser serving as base of operations, featuring weapons and infrastructures that will boost squad numbers, teleport soldiers or even bomb the battlefield.

Persistent squads involved in various campaigns, with upgradeable and unique (per class) skill tree for all units.

Gamasutra has posted an interview Harebrained Schemes's Jordan Weisman about the success of the company's Kickstarter campaign to fund the recently released 2D turn-based RPG, Shadowrun Returns. The game returns players to the Shadowrun universe, which features a mixture of cyberpunk tech and high fantasy magic.

It was a little over a year between the end of the campaign and your launch. That seems...quite efficient, despite a minor delay. What's your advice to independent studios who are working towards a deadline for a crowdfunded game?

JKW: In the scale of video game development, our budget was very small and we felt that while our backers were amazing, their patience would not be infinite, so for both reasons we knew we needed to move quickly. We embraced a very agile development methodology which really worked due to the extremely collaborative nature of our studio.

We had some pretty solid, larger design goals established, things like capturing the essence of the pen-and-paper mechanics, player character creation with a high diversity of character archetypes, team based tactical combat, and most importantly powerful [user-generated content tools. But the thousands of decisions needed to realize those goals were mostly worked out in real time over short sprints and with high iteration to allow us to attempt something, and then quickly rev it until it worked the way we wanted it to.

This process means that scope is constantly changing, most often downward, but not always, as the team constantly identifies things that were not considered previously, or that need to be reconceived. The biggest example of that is how we approached the Matrix. We felt that we did not have the budget to “do the Matrix right,” so had early on decided on an abstract mini-game to represent the Matrix and we communicated this to our backers. But after several attempts at that abstract mini-game had failed we finally bit the bullet and implemented a real Matrix experience.